Saiga antelope is making a comeback

Context

The Saiga Antelope has been a critically endangered species since 2018. But the antelope species is making a comeback.

About the Saiga antelope

• Characteristics: The Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) is a migratory ungulate of the steppes and semi-deserts of Eurasia.
• The Saiga is known for its distinctive bulbous nose.
• Distribution: Kazakhstan is home to a majority of the world's Saiga.
• Until the late 1980s, more than a million saigas roamed the arid regions of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. 
• Increase in Population: The population of the Saiga antelope has more than doubled in Kazakhstan since 2019.
• Conservation Status: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) deems the Saiga to be among five critically endangered antelope species.
• Threats: Around 2,00,000 antelopes were wiped out due to a nasal bacterium that spread in unusually warm and humid conditions in 2015.
  • The threat of poaching is fuelled by the demand for the Saiga's horn in traditional Chinese medicine. Kazakhstan's leaders have pledged to intensify their crackdown on poaching.
  • Climate change and the expansion of human activity through farming and infrastructure projects are other threats to Saiga.